Los Angeles police raided a hotel Thursday on the outskirts of Chinatown, arresting eight suspects in an alleged crack cocaine ring that provided a stark look at how even homeless people with only pennies to their name can fuel a burgeoning drug trade.

December 17, 1994 | PETER Y. HONG and BRETT MAHONEY, SPECIAL TO THE TIMES

The president of a Chinatown social club was shot and killed after the group's meeting Thursday night, according to police. Phillip Toy Lieu, 44, of Baldwin Park was leaving a meeting of the Hop Sing Tong, a private club that has been in Chinatown since 1876, when he was shot repeatedly in the head by another member about 9:30 p.m., police said.

Chinatown has found a way to get the cash-strapped Los Angeles Police Department closer to the neighborhood: pay for it. A group of local business owners and residents is offering the LAPD a substation complete with lockers, fax machines, telephones and computers. "This is a premier example of the community working with the police," said Henry Leong, vice president of the Chinatown Public Safety Assn., which is offering its two-story building to police.

Thousands of onlookers lined the streets of Chinatown on Saturday to celebrate the Chinese New Year as groups of demonstrators stood among the crowd with banners to remind them of a float they would not see--a replica of the Goddess of Democracy. The Chinese Chamber of Commerce banned the 6-foot replica of the statue from entering the parade.

Just beyond Chinatown's Gate of Maternal Virtue, nearly a dozen artists propped up easels and umbrellas Thursday to paint their interpretations of the community. Their paintings, combined with others that have been created since April, will be displayed at a gallery as part of revitalization efforts.

There were too many cooks in the narrow kitchen aisle in Chinatown's Grand Star Jazz Club on Saturday, but they cheerily squeezed past one another to peer into the braising pot where chunks of pork shoulder simmered in a piquant sauce of red wine, rice wine, garlic, scallions and ginger. In front of an industrial-size wok, Jet Tila, a restaurant consultant and radio and television chef, demonstrated how to steam whole striped bass.

To step into the Gin Herb store -- or Wing On Tong, as it is known to its Cantonese-speaking patrons -- is to enter both another country and another century. Behind a long counter fronting a wall of wooden drawers, fourth-generation herbalists in the family-owned store measure and mix leaves and roots, mushrooms and minerals, perfuming the air with the aroma of musty ginseng and sweet licorice.

Chinatown's only condominium project intended for low- or moderate-income families has been scaled back more than 75%, leaving the local Chinese community angry and frustrated. The drastic step reduced from 60 to 14 the number of condos available to those with limited means. It was taken by Community Redevelopment Agency commissioners because cost overruns and other problems connected with the construction of Angelina Terrace at 916 W. College St. had nearly killed the project.

A group of physicians and members of the Chinese community have signed a letter of intent to purchase the oldest hospital in Los Angeles, the troubled French Hospital in Chinatown. According to hospital officials, the purchase would save the 129-year-old medical facility on West College Street, which had been expected to close next month. Even though escrow may take up to six months, "there will be no lag in service," said Don Carrico, chief executive officer of the 155-bed facility.

Gloria Wong, owner of Superior Poultry in Chinatown, rushed to and from the shop's cash register, her knee-high rubber boots making small slapping noises on the wet concrete floor. "New Year's, very busy," she muttered, as Chinese customers, most of them old ladies in quilted jackets, crowded in front of her register to buy chickens for Chinese New Year--"Year of the Horse" celebrations, which began Saturday.